Changing from Surge Brakes to Electric

I have A 36ft Myacht houseboat 2100K The trailer came from tracker with surge brakes I would like to replace them with a new Electric system I have looked everwhere and can not find a marine braking system? I guess my question is Can I put a standard trailer brake system on a marine trailer? Has anyone done this? We don't have much water in colorado and I have to tow the boat to the ponds around here.

Re: Changing from Surge Brakes to Electric

There have been a couple guys on here that have done that successfully. You can do a thread search, if they don't reply to your post, to find out where they got the kits.

Re: Changing from Surge Brakes to Electric

Water and electricity do not mix very well. I have never heard of electric brakes for a marine situtation in my area. I would stick with the surge brakes.

Re: Changing from Surge Brakes to Electric

I would check out the disc trailer brakes. Going to bet you that they might work for you. Only problem I would see would be corroded rotors if the boat sat for a long time....course drums have the same problem. Might go to a trailers and towing site, if you can't get your answer here and see what folks are saying.

I have run both surge and elect and I find the elect much more responsive and better stopping as the trailer basically tries to stop the car whereas the surge keeps pushing the car forward....but they don't require any modification of the tow vehicle and on a limited budget that could matter.....at the time I had them it did matter. I was lucky (worked very hard) to have a boat at all.

My 2c,

Mark

Re: Changing from Surge Brakes to Electric

Texasmark said:

I would check out the disc trailer brakes. Going to bet you that they might work for you. Only problem I would see would be corroded rotors if the boat sat for a long time....course drums have the same problem. Might go to a trailers and towing site, if you can't get your answer here and see what folks are saying.

I have run both surge and elect and I find the elect much more responsive and better stopping as the trailer basically tries to stop the car whereas the surge keeps pushing the car forward....but they don't require any modification of the tow vehicle and on a limited budget that could matter.....at the time I had them it did matter. I was lucky (worked very hard) to have a boat at all.

My 2c,

Mark

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Thanks for your Help not sure what to do? I think I will try it and I can always go back to the old system. Thanks again for your time>

Re: Changing from Surge Brakes to Electric

Electric brakes work fine on fresh water boat trailers. My father put standard electric trailer brakes on his boat trailer a long time ago and they work fine. The brakes on his boat trailer (fresh water) actually hold up better than the electric brakes on my snowmobile trailer. The boat gets towed about as much as my snowmobile trailer each year, but the snowmobile trailer has to deal with road salt. The argument that electricity and water don't mix is a bunch of bull if you ask me. The magnets are sealed and if you use good heat shrink connectors you won't have a problem. The electricity we are talking about here is low voltage. My father's boat trailer is evidence that it works and boat trailer manufacturers are now offering electric brakes as an option. I probably wouldn't do it for salt water use but that isn't because of the electric nature, but because they are drum brakes.

Re: Changing from Surge Brakes to Electric

Thanks to all I will let everone know how this turns out.

Re: Changing from Surge Brakes to Electric

The best would be to got electric over hydraulic but they are pricey. I am converting our trailer to electric to make it easier on the towing and to have brakes while backing down the ramp if we tow with the suburban.

Just check each year for corrosion and maintain as needed. Prices are pretty cheap if a part goes bad.